The Museum and the Internet: Examining Institutional Approaches to Collecting and Exhibiting Web Art

Web Art, contemporary art that relies on the internet to exist, is a global art movement that developed from early twenty-first century hacking and activism. The museum sector has demonstrated active interest in this field, leaving academic disciplines lagging behind. For the first time, this project will bridge this growing gap through primary research and an interdisciplinary approach bringing together contemporary museum studies, art history and digital humanities. This research will examine institutional approaches to collecting and exhibiting Web Art. The main research question is: how does an in-depth engagement with Web Art present both challenges and opportunities for museums and how can lessons learnt be shared effectively across regional museums to influence practice?

At the core of this study is primary research that challenges centre-periphery hierarchies. This study will examine programming at regional digital art centres FACT, Liverpool; QUAD, Derby; Birmingham Open Media, and New York's Whitney Museum and New Museum, the V&A Museum and Serpentine Gallery, London. The thesis will use a framework of museum studies theory, including scholarship by Nina Simon and Claire Bishop, to question the role of the twenty-first century museum. Digital humanities theory will provide insight into the relationship between digital media and museums, and the potential of Web Art to attract new modes and levels of audience engagement. Contemporary art theory, particularly Hito Steyerl and Boris Groys' criticism of digital art, will aid this study to readdress the relationship between Web Art, the museum and the canon of art history.